Former world boxing champion Naseem Hamed has been stripped of his MBE after being jailed over a high-speed crash in his sports car.

Hamed, 32, of Dore, Sheffield, served 16 weeks of a 15-month term last year for seriously injuring Anthony Burgin in the crash in Sheffield in May 2005.

An official notice said the Queen had directed that Hamed's name be erased from the Order of the British Empire.

His former trainer Brendan Ingle said the boxer would be "upset" by the news.

However, he said his sympathies lay with Mr Burgin and his wife Clare, who was also injured in the crash.

When you see the young chap Burgin and you see the mess his life is in physically, all my feelings go out to the Burgins

Brendan Ingle, Hamed's former trainer

Hamed, a former world featherweight champion, was driving his McLaren-Mercedes supercar on the wrong side of a bend when he hit the couple's car head-on at 90mph (145km/h).

Mr Burgin spent weeks in hospital with fractures to every major bone in his body.

The Cabinet Office, which administers the honours system, said on Monday that awards could be annulled if evidence of wrongdoing came to light.

A notice in the London Gazette said: "The Queen has directed that the appointment of Naseem Hamed to be a Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 31 December 1998, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order."

'Still in pain'

Asked how Hamed would take the news, Mr Ingle told BBC Radio Sheffield: "I should imagine he will be upset, won't he?

"When you see the young chap Burgin and you see the mess his life is in physically, all my feelings go out to the Burgins.

"The lad's still smashed up and he's still in pain."

Hamed was released from Moorland Prison, Doncaster, in September but had to wear an electronic tag under the Home Office's Home Detention Curfew scheme.

Mr Burgin expressed his shock at the decision to grant Hamed early release.

"What happened to my wife and I was deeply distressing and nearly destroyed our lives," he said.

"I am shocked that after such a serious accident Mr Hamed has been released after less than four months."